France student protest
Protesters take part in a demonstration of high-school students as part of a nationwide protest movement over learning conditions in Marseille, south-eastern France, on October 6, 2026. Since late September, pupils have barred the entrances to hundreds of schools, complaining of teacher absences, overloaded timetables, dilapidated classrooms and buildings ill-adapted to rising temperatures, among other grievances. MIGUEL MEDINA/Getty Images

Student protests over teacher shortages, crowded classrooms and deteriorating school facilities have spread across France, escalating into clashes and mass arrests just as President Emmanuel Macron's government seeks to push through a difficult package of spending restraint.

More than 5,000 people had been taken into police custody in connection with violence surrounding the demonstrations as of Monday, according to the French Ministry of Justice. Of the 5,060 people detained, 4,406, or 87%, were minors. Prosecutors had opened cases against 1,802 people, while 14 had been placed in pretrial detention.

The protests began late last month in the Paris region before spreading across the country, with students raising concerns about teacher shortages, class sizes, long school days and the condition of school buildings. Hundreds of schools have been affected by blockades and closures as demonstrations continued into October.

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Education Minister Edouard Geffray said Monday that 190 students had been injured since the demonstrations began, including a 15-year-old boy who reportedly lost a hand during clashes in the northern city of Lens. The Interior Ministry has said the violence has moved beyond what it considers the legitimate expression of students' grievances.

The unrest is unfolding as Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's government begins negotiations over its 2027 budget, which calls for a fiscal adjustment worth €54 billion.

The plan includes €43 billion in new measures and €11 billion from previously adopted measures that will have a larger impact next year, according to the French government. Paris is targeting a public deficit of 5% of gross domestic product in 2027, or 4.8% excluding additional defense spending.

The government said much of the adjustment would come from tighter control of spending. Primary public expenditure, which excludes debt-servicing costs, is expected to remain flat in volume terms, while spending excluding both debt costs and defense would decline.

The budget pressure leaves the government with limited room to address demands for significantly higher public spending.

France recorded a public deficit of €152.5 billion in 2025, equivalent to 5.1% of GDP, down from 5.8% the previous year, according to INSEE, the country's national statistics agency.

Public debt has continued to climb. France's Maastricht-defined government debt reached €3.5955 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2026, equivalent to 119% of GDP, up from 117.5% three months earlier, INSEE said on Sept. 29.

France is also under the European Union's excessive deficit procedure. The country has committed to a fiscal adjustment path through 2029 aimed at bringing its deficit below the EU's 3% of GDP threshold, according to the European Commission.

The Commission said in June that France's excessive deficit procedure would remain in abeyance after assessing the government's fiscal action, while its corrective path continues through 2029.

France's fiscal position has also become a major issue ahead of the 2027 presidential election, with Marine Le Pen seeking to position herself as an alternative to the current government's approach.

Le Pen said Tuesday that her program could generate €140 billion in savings by 2032 and bring the country's overall deficit below the EU's 3% threshold within 18 months. Her proposals include eliminating more than 120 taxes, making changes to the pension system, reducing France's net contribution to the EU budget and targeting tax optimization by multinational companies.

She argued that the measures would signal to financial markets that France was bringing its public finances under control.

Questions remain over how the proposed savings would be achieved. Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, told CNBC that Le Pen's promises to sharply reduce spending while avoiding tax increases and leaving major areas of social spending largely untouched were difficult to reconcile.